50-52 Front Street
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
FORM B − BUILDING
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons
Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): March, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
11A-45 Easthampton NTH.40
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Leeds
Address: 50-52 Front Street
Historic Name: Nonotuck Silk Company House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Two-family residence
Date of Construction: ca.1860
Source: atlas of 1860
Style/Form: Side-gable
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible and concrete block
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates): siding added, windows
replaced, chimney added to end wall, ca. 1970-1990.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.479 acres
Setting: This is a south-facing house on a rise in
the landscape. It is in a neighborhood of one-and two-
family houses.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [50-52 FRONT ST]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.40
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
The Nonotuck Silk Company two-family house is two stories in height under a slate-covered, side-gable roof. Like many mill
houses, it is modest in design. It is six bays wide and three bays deep and has a one story ell on the north. On the south
façade entries to the units are in the center and side-by-side. Windows in the house have been replaced with vinyl 6/6 sash and
the house has been vinyl sided so that many of its stylistic details have been obscured such as the door and window surrounds.
It has two interior chimneys at the ridge. The south façade has a shed roof, full-width porch that rests on posts with scroll-cut
brackets at the eaves, a Queen Anne style porch that would have been a later addition if the house were constructed about
1860.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the
owners/occupants played within the community.
From Form B of 1980: “This large double house was probably built as a tenement house for the Nonotuck Silk Co. In 1862,
Benjamin North sold his Main and Mulberry Streets Store to the Company, and it was at this time that he probably also sold his
property up on the hill on Front Street. The 1860 Map shows two houses owned by the North family and it’s possible that this is
the one owned by Mrs. O. North.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Beers, F. W. County Atlas of Hampshire Massachusetts, New York, 1873.
Hales, John G. Plan of the Town or Northampton in the County of Hampshire, 1831.
Miller, D. L. Atlas of the City of Northampton and Town of Easthampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, 1895.
Walker, George H. and Company. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts, Boston, 1884.
Walling, Henry F. Map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, New York, 1860.
Registry of Deeds: Bk. 298-P. 109